Heading to Chicagoland – Learning 2.0 Focus Groups this Week

I wanted to share with you a little bit about what I will be doing Monday & Tuesday of this week. I was awarded the grant by SJSU to begin studying the impact of Learning 2.0 in US libraries. We’re starting with a pilot project as outlined in the grant proposal:

Three public libraries in the Chicago metropolitan area will partner in this study. All three libraries have offered Learning 2.0 programs within the last five years, and all three library directors have agreed to participate in this study. The libraries include Mount Prospect Public Library, a mid-size public library where more than 100 staff members participated in the program in 2008; Schaumburg Township District Library, the second largest public library in Illinois, where 146 staff participated in the program in 2007; and Skokie Public Library, a suburban library where 154 employees participated in the program in 2007.

The survey instrument will be based on the question set used in the Australian study. All staff at each site study library will be invited to participate in the web-based survey. In addition, the investigator will duplicate the focus group procedures utilized in the Australian study. Questions will be used to gather perceptions and insights about the results of the Learning 2.0 program, including perceptions regarding what aspects of the program worked well and the lasting impact of the program. The study will include three focus groups at each participating library. Internal announcements to all employees will be used to gather participants. All employees who are interested in participating in the focus groups will be added to a list, and participants will be randomly selected from the pool, reducing the chance of bias in any group.

So, Monday and Tuesday I’ll be running the focus groups in all three locations. I’m looking forward to visiting these outstanding Chicagoland libraries.